Mortal Resplendence
by Howling Din
Summary: Directly following the events of the episode Mortal Folly. A literary retelling of Mortal Recoil.


**This is a re-post. It was posted, taken down, and now has been put back up. I'm sure there will be no objections to this.**

* * *

Ragged, skeletal, magical. It was there. He was there. Nothing could be seen but it, all else was darkness. It swayed a lantern in front of its figure. The lantern swayed naturally, lifelessly.

It was far bigger than he. He looked down and saw a pool between them. Mist became visible, all light was tinted green.

"Aren't you cold?" The voice echoed through his mind.

He shook away the vision. "No, this already happened, this is the past." He remembered it already happened.

"It is not the past."

This blunt denial was uncanny. He never heard someone deny something obviously true with such certainty.

If the creature was capable of smiling, it was doing it now. "This is the future."

He felt chilled down to the bone. All became darker, then there was complete darkness. The creature was disappeared in the darkness, and now it was everywhere, everything.

"The future of all life."

* * *

Finn was riding atop Jake. They were heading through the gates of the Candy Kingdom. The place was bright, pink and fluffy as ever.

He remembered what happened, he defeated the Lich, and then Ice King dropped Princess Bubblegum into its pool of death out of what he described as 'the dropsies'. They rushed her back to the Candy Kingdom. While riding Jake, he had drifted into a half-sleep. "PB, how is she?" He said to Jake.

"Don't know, we only just got back." He ran up the steps of the palace. "She's in the OR, that's where we're going."

Finn clenched his teeth, his brow furrowing. He defeated the Lich, and Princess Bubblegum was okay, then Ice King...

* * *

Ice King was hysteric. Nobody was allowed in the operating room, as the doctors were busy in there, operating on Princess Bubblegum. "Oh," he said to himself in worry. "I sure hope my princess is okay."

Finn and Jake came into the room. They saw the 'do not enter' sign on the operating room door, and joined the oval shaped crowd of candy people waiting restlessly for news.

Ice King droned on. "Oh, my wife!" He huddled in with his own fingers, speaking in a hushed tone. "If anything were to happen to her, I would just..." He pushed tears out of his eyes, but the rest of his face was acting, poorly.

Finn was glaring at him from across the clearing in front of the door. His mouth wound in a tight, 'I'm not happy' angle.

Ice King saw them, and walked over to them. "Guys, I'm serious about marrying her." He invaded on Finn's personal space, and Finn stepped away to give way, saying nothing. Ice King covered his face, still advancing on him. "If she doesn't make it out of this, I won't have any reason to live." He spread his arms. "She means everything to me!"

Finn grabbed him by his robe, getting tufts of his beard in the grip. "Listen, Ice King." He pushed him back along the path he advanced on. "Nobody cares about your stupid feelings." He freed an arm, indicating the operating room. "All that matters right now, is PB getting better. Once that's solved, you can crawl on the ground, and squirt your tears from here to the Nitosphere all you jam well please." They crossed the clearing, and Finn let go of him on his side of the oval crowd. He spoke softly, more calmly. "Have some decency, Ice King." He turned back and went to his spot, he had nothing more to say.

Ice King stood there for a minute, staring off into empty space. Then he put his attention back on Finn and Jake. "Oh, I see, you guys are jealous!"

The door to the operating room swung open, and Doctor Ice Cream came out. Her soft serve head was melted at the edges, dripping down her cone. Everyone waited for her to speak. Even with the doors open, there was nothing they could do, but await word of what became of the patient.

Doctor Ice Cream took a deep breath, and then her face lightened. "The operation, was a success."

Finn felt like a huge load had been lifted off him. Now, finally, it was over, PB was okay. He forgot all about Ice King's attitude, it was vastly outweighed by his relief. A gurney came out of the operating room, pushed by the nurse, and presided over by another doctor. Princess Bubblegum looked weak, and discolored, but compared to her condition when she came out of the Lich's pool, it was a long way to full recovery.

They moved the gurney through the crowd, everyone making way. "Now everyone give her some room." Said Doctor Ice Cream. "She needs to rest." They moved toward the next door, heading to the corridors, on the way to her bedroom. Princess Bubblegum wasn't conscious.

* * *

 **Some time later**

Finn sat on a stool next to her bedside. She was still asleep. He was allowed to visit her, on account of being a close friend, as long as he promised not to bother her with noise or anything. Jake was out at the moment. Finn had done a lot of thinking since defeating the Lich. He saw her eyes open, and stood up in pleasant surprise. "Princess, you're awake."

She turned her head to look his way.

"You know, princess," he wanted to share his thoughts with her. "When the Lich broke free, and you set me on the quest to stop it, with the fate of the world at stake. I was really happy. It was something I realized I wanted to do. Something I always wanted to do. Save the world from a great evil, using a legendary weapon, and then maybe..."

She did not reply.

He shook his head. "But now, I realize that I don't need any of that. I don't need an enemy to defeat, I don't need to save the world." He smiled. "Because I already have so much. I have Jake, all of my friends, and... you. I don't want to save the world, I just want it to remain safe."

She continued looking at him, saying nothing.

"Princess, I..." He took the pink sweater out of his pack. "Your sweater, it protected me, with the power of... liking someone a lot. And what I want to say is... that I..." He mustered his courage. "I... like you, a lot." His face was red.

"Finn..."

"Y-yes?" After what he just said to her, her next words were going to hit him hard, no matter what, for good or bad. He had bared his soul, he was vulnerable.

"Kiss me."

His face became hotter. An unbearable amount of blood boiled up into his head. He did not expect her to say that. It was only in the most far-fetched corners of his imagination that she said that. He looked at her face, it was calm, expecting. There was no hint of sarcasm or mockery. She was serious, he realized, to his own pleasant bewilderment.

He leaned in, not entirely focused. And then, with all the hesitation he could muster, countered by all the determination, he put his lips on hers.

The feeling that came next absorbed him completely, his attention, his mind. There was nothing but the kiss. Nothing but her.

A loud hissing interrupted his trance. He picked up his head, and looked over to the doorway. Peppermint Butler was there. He was on all fours, staring at Princess Bubblegum with beaded eyes of an irregular white. Fangs were visible in his mouth. Once his hissing was finished, he scurried away.

Finn straightened more. "What's wrong with him?" Her hand touched his cheek, gently pulling him back to her.

"Ignore it."

He looked into her eyes, they were intoxicating. He couldn't take them away, and forgot about Peppermint Butler's strange outburst.

"Listen, Finn, I need you to get some things for me." Her hand was still on his cheek.

He took it between both his hands. "Anything."

* * *

Jake came back into town, and found the cart he and Finn left in front of the palace. Finn wasn't there, he'd gone inside to check up on Peebs, and see if she was awake. The cart was loaded with flowers; a get well present from them. Jake saw Peppermint Butler scurry out of the front door, and down the steps on all fours. Jake looked at him, saying nothing. Peppermint Butler ignored him and ran past.

He decided not to confront the issue, part of him was subtly terrified of Peppermint Butler. If he wanted to act weird, then that was cool.

But it did get him worrying that something might be going on in there. After mulling it over, building up his rising paranoia, made more tense by a passage of time in which his mind received no new input, he decided to go inside.

Up the steps and through the doorway. The place seemed normal. Everyone went about with calm, there was nobody running somewhere or raising an uproar. All posted guards remained at their posts, not taking particular note of anything.

Jake made his way to PB's bedroom, expecting to find Finn there or along the way there. He knew Finn had a crush on her, but any worry that might be had from him being alone with her, her in a vulnerable state, never even entered his mind. It was unthinkable. Finn would never take advantage of someone like that.

He spotted Finn across the hall after rounding the next corner. He was coming from the direction of Princess Bubblegum's laboratory, and had a full two-armload of items, most of them were brightly colored plastic containers with long nozzles. Jake stopped, and let Finn walk close to him. "What is that stuff?"

"This?" He shook the stuff in his arms. "Stuff PB asked me to get." He continued past Jake, who tagged at his side after he passed him. "Gasoline, ammonia, tar, plutonium. You know, lady stuff."

"Finn, that seems kinda weird."

"What? Why would it be? PB is a scientist, I'm sure she uses stuff like this all the time."

Jake considered that as they walked together. "If that's the case, then why are you bringing it to her bedroom?"

Finn shrugged. "I don't know."  
He recalled the way Peppermint Butler was acting. "This seems kinda fishy, Finn."  
"Jake, listen." Said Finn, in a rare tone of seriousness. "PB has been through a lot. Does she really deserve this kind of suspicion?"

He had a point, thought Jake. Princess Bubblegum was their friend. It was wrong of him to distrust her over something like this. He rested his case by letting Finn have the last word.

They passed by the door to her bedroom, and it opened. Princess Bubblegum came out. Finn handed her the things in his arms. "Here you go, Peebs."

She took them. "Thanks," she said in a monotone as she went back inside, closing the door.

Jake felt his suspicion well up again. He followed her in, shortly after the door shut. He glimpsed her going into the bathroom, shutting that door behind her. Without consulting with Finn, he walked across the bedroom, toward the bathroom door. Finn followed, Jake expected him to say something, but he didn't. He stopped in front of the door, and peeked through the keyhole. He saw Princess Bubblegum unloading all the stuff into the bathtub.

"Whoa, Jake!" Exclaimed Finn. "That ain't decent, man!"

He kept looking. What he saw next unsettled him. She stuck her tongue out, and it extended like a tentacle. It went into the bathtub, and she began swallowing, as though drinking its contents. Jake backed up from the door, and morphed his paw into a lockpick. "This is getting messed up."

"Jake, stop it!" He grabbed Jake's arm.

Jake shoved Finn at the door, standing next to him and pushing his head to look through the keyhole. "You gotta see this, Finn."  
Finn was averting his eyes. "No, I'm not going to look at-"

An explosion blew the door from inside the bathroom. It threw them both across the room, and they rolled across the floor, slamming into the wall on the other side.

* * *

Finn regained consciousness under the door, which was unhinged, and laying on its side on the wall. He pushed it off, and saw the bedroom messed up with icky black stuff scattered in chunks all over. The rest of the room was dusted all over with soot.

He looked to his right, and saw Jake on the floor, still unconscious. Finn pushed himself back on his feet, and made his way to the bathroom. He was dizzy, and keeping balance was difficult, but he made it through the doorway.

Princess Bubblegum was gone, and the bathtub was empty of liquid, but black substance was crusted all over in it. He looked to the right, and saw that the window was shattered. Night was falling outside. It all slammed home in his mind. There really was something wrong with Princess Bubblegum.

He ran out of the bathroom, and stopped over Jake. "Jake, are you alright?" He shook him a little.

"Meat Man... no, I can't pay you damages, I'm sorry Meat Man." He shifted a little.

Finn sighed with relief, he was fine. He turned, and went out of the room. He had to find her.

It all made sense now. He'd messed up, he was too wrapped up in feeling like she finally returned his feelings, he should have known. The signs were all there, he was just too stupid to see them. She wouldn't have really asked him to kiss her, who was he kidding? Now it might be too late to help her.

He moved briskly through the palace. It was strangely deserted. The candles were not lit, and so the coming nightfall darkened everything to a dimness of all of cold colors. He didn't see anybody, and there was no noise, save his own footsteps.

A feeling enveloped him, manifesting in his gut, then pulling strings to drag his mind down. She could already be gone. Even if she wasn't possessed by the Lich, would her body survive ingesting all that dangerous stuff he brought her?

He broke into running, not wanting to think about it.

His silent, unbearably long trek through the palace brought him to the entrance hall. He spotted someone sitting on the bench off to the side; Doctor Ice Cream.

Finn approached her.

Her disposition was quiet, frozen. She was staring at the floor, out of focus. Finn got close. "Doc, where is everybody?" Where is Princess Bubblegum? Was what he really wanted to ask.

She shook her head. "I... shouldn't have kept it hidden. I thought it would be all right. I just... didn't want to step on anyone's hope."

Finn realized what she was getting at. "The operation, did something happen?"

She leaned back on the wall, looking at Finn with eyes slanted down. She was still in a hazy state of mind. "I don't know, and that's the problem. I was the doctor, I should have known."

"What happened?"

She shook her head. "We thought we'd lost her, and then, it was like a miracle." She started laughing, dryly, without humor. "She recovered. We didn't do anything, it happened on its own." She leaned forward again, she was on the verge of tears. "I... should have said something. Maybe we could have helped her in time. But everyone looked so happy, when I said she was gonna be okay." She stood up, and walked past Finn. "Now I've learned, when things that are beyond your control have control over life," she inhaled before finishing.

"It brings tragedy."

Finn didn't want to believe it was true. The doctor was speaking as though PB was... "No!" He stepped back, shaking his head. "That's not how the story is supposed to end!" He didn't wait for a reply, and dashed out of the palace.

He saw Ice King standing there on his way out, but barely noticed him. Finn ran down the steps outside the front entrance.

Night had fallen, and the town looked normal, save for nobody being out, and no lights in any windows. There was an eerie silence all throughout the town. A dim overcast of moonlight served as the only light.

Finn continued moving through the streets, anything so he wouldn't have to think about the truth. He wandered for what felt like hours, completing several full circles around the deserted town.

And then a light.

It was an area, more brightly lit than the rest of the town. The difference was subtle, impossible to notice without his eyes having adjusted to the dark.

He followed this light, and it took him around a corner, he turned, and saw a fountain, in the center of a wide plaza. The fountain's water had reflected some moonlight, creating a tiny abundance.

Princess Bubblegum was standing atop the fountain's inactive head. She turned, and looked at Finn.

The sight of her sent waves of terror down his being, intensified by the relief he would normally feel by the fact that she looked well and normal. The candy palace loomed above, augmenting her presence.

She completed the turn, and looked down, directly at him. "Finn..."

He didn't know if it was her speaking, or the Lich. He wanted it to be her, but at the same time, the anticipation terrified him, he knew, in his heart, what she would say as herself.

Her mouth opened again, and she tried to push words out. "K...k..."

A darkness enveloped the town, blotting it from view. Then a black entity formed around her, forming into the Lich, reborn. "Kiss me!" said the Lich's voice mockingly. "Kiss me, and do whatever I want, you fool!"

Ragged, skeletal, magical. It was there. Finn was there. Nothing could be seen but it, all else was darkness. It swayed a lantern in front of its figure. The lantern swayed naturally, lifelessly.

The fountain began evaporating into illuminated green mist. "I told you, human. I told you what the future would be."

Finn took out the pink sweater, it protected him from the Lich before. But as he took it out, it disintegrated into gray powder.

"You are a hypocrite." Said the Lich. "Declaring your happiness in a world without crises, yet accepting more than you knew you could obtain, after solving such a crises. Then, when the truth is made apparent, when all is known, you run away, oh! Anything! Anything as long as it can end happily for you." It rattled its head, producing a solid chatter noise. "All life is hypocrisy."

Finn was helpless, he could not move his legs. The Lich unleashed its force, its death upon all.

And the world became nothing.

* * *

Ice King was following the trail through town where he thought Finn went. And now the world was one of nothing, zero. All was black, gone, even his wizard vision couldn't see anything.

* * *

Jake wandered through the world of nothing, there were no scents, no sounds. He couldn't even see anything. All he could count on was a solid surface to keep walking on. He had nothing, he ran faster, looking desperately for something other than darkness.

But in all his searching, he found nothing.

* * *

Doctor Ice Cream was sitting at the bench, nothing could be seen, or heard. It was oblivion.

Feeling responsible for all of it, she put her face in her hands, and wept.

* * *

Candy people all over wandered around in the world of nothing, the zero world. Even in their diversity; their uniqueness, not one of them found anything.

Not even one another.

* * *

Even the Lich was gone. Did it even matter if it happened? That Finn die? Was there anything left? The hammer came down upon Finn, to finish his weak, helpless self.

* * *

 **Epilogue**

Wind blew over the barren fields. The night was quiet, silent, deserted.

A tiny creature, new to life, was safely tucked into a hollow. Its mother was gone, but it remembered. Still felt the meaning, the feeling it had always known.

 _Your heart beats, your lungs respire, your tummy digests, and your senses intake the world, as it changes, eternally._

 _An existence you never stop earning._

* * *

"No..." He blocked the downcoming force of judgment. His eyes were wide open, he saw nothing, but now, he saw everything. "You are not going to take my life!" His anger welled up, how could he have possibly thought that this creature had the right to execute him?

He got off his knees, onto his feet. With all his strength, he repelled the execution. Any valid point it might have spoken was irrelevant. This creature was a murderer. "Here is my answer. I will destroy you!"  
An eye opened in front of him, an eye of wrath. It was not an eye that saw things, only one that pushed such things out, and what it pushed out was ire, pure ire at being defied. "You are nothing to me."

Tendrils came from the darkness, and pierced into him.

He felt nothing, but saw a blast of light erupt. He looked at himself, and saw that he was unharmed, and emanating a light, white, and glowing a soothing green-blue. A greater light welled up in all the edges of his vision, and the eye before him closed from the pain of seeing it.

He turned around, and saw a man approaching him, with the same glow. It rendered him semi-transparent, with the light coming from inside. He wore a brown coat, and had round spectacles. He looked down at him. "You... I've been drawn to you."

The man was human, he felt a sense of disbelief at meeting one. "Who are you?"

He shook his head. "That's not important right now." More lights, all without bodies, appeared behind him. They kept appearing, adding together, and flaring up like the sun.

"What is that?" He asked.

The man spread his arms. "This is everything the creature was never able to destroy. It is coming together, because we are not darkness." He pointed ahead.

The boy followed, and saw the darkness burn away, revealing the creature in the distance. It was latched into the earth, atop a plateau, growing in size. The world was still misty, and hazy, and subject to chaotic shifts. He was probably still in the Candy Kingdom, but everything looked different. "How?" He asked aloud. "How can we defeat such a thing?"

"The creature is a parasite, in the fullest sense of the word. It cannot exist without a host." He walked past the boy. "You must find whom it's coupled with, and sever their connection."

The boy walked past him in turn. It was far past the time for questions, for anything, except this. "I'm ready."

* * *

The man encased the boy in a hollow ball of ice, and shot him at high velocity toward the creature. As the projectile shrank into the titanic frame of the creature, he walked at it, catching its attention. He felt its presence in his mind.

"Do you feel cold?" it asked.

The Ice Crown appeared on the man's head. "Why, yes, I do." A beard began to grow, his skin became blue, and his nose became pointy, like an icicle. He grinned with pointy teeth. "Isn't it glorious?"

The creature changed its behavior, turning its energies at him.

He looked left, and right, at the now millions of lights, that glowed clean white with a blue-green glow. The things the creature was never able to destroy, no matter how hard it tried. "Everyone, let's rock and roll!" He turned on the creature, and unleashed a widening cone of cold, ice and snow upon it. The blast intensified, and then became ten times bigger, then fifty times. The bodies of ice were each the size of the candy palace at the time they reached the creature.

The creature took the blows, and grew in size. It unleashed tendrils out of its body, that grew out to reach for the man.

He stopped shooting the blizzard cone, then raised an arm to point in the air, casting no ice.

The tendrils approached.

He remained as he were, patient.

The tendrils reached him.

And he motioned down. The sky was filled with sharpened chunks of ice, that rained down on the terrain as a natural disaster. At the end of the savage volley of ice, the tendrils were all pinned to the ground or torn apart.

* * *

The boy stood in place. He was in an alcove created by the impact of the ice ball, it had shattered and melted, leaving him there.

Outside the hovel was the only thing visible from inside, as he looked out there, he saw his mistakes, all of his weaknesses that allowed things to get this far out of hand.

Then he cast them aside. There were more important things happening.

He leaped out of the hole. A chaotic expanse became visible. It looked vaguely like the Candy Kingdom, but was misshapen, and discolored, blanketed by a fog. The light was far ahead. Titanic chunks of ice came from it, striking into the wall at his sides.

He looked to the right, and saw a giant, worm-like entity charging at him with a circle of teeth bared.

A giant ice projectile pierced through it, pinning it to the wall.

Wasting no more time, the boy turned around. The wall was black, with wide, swirling indents. As though he were an ant to an oak tree. He leaped up to it, and climbed. He knew what he was looking for was at the top. He was drawn.

He felt an uncanny vibration, turned, and saw a stray mountain of ice come barreling straight at him. He immediately took cover inside the wide crack. The ball slammed into the surface, bending the substance in, then it fell, having lost all its velocity.

The boy peeked out of the crack, and saw a splinter protruding out of the edge of the round indent at the center of which he was located. He leaped at it, catching it in his hands, he then rode the momentum full circle and flipped on top of it.

He continued his advance up the structure.

* * *

All was darkness for the princess. She stared ahead, at the horizon, it too was darkness. She hung her head again. She was bound, couldn't move. Comfort was impossible, the creature would not allow it.

The princess lifted her head at the horizon again, and this time, she saw a light. It grew, emitting a brilliant white with a green-blue outline. The boy came into view. They made eye contact, and he came running to her. She spoke his name, faintly, with all her strength.

* * *

The boy heard the princess speak his name. She had something further to say, "k...k..."

Please, thought the boy. Say something, give me an affirmation that you're you. But do not say what you're about to say.

"Kill me."

The words pierced into his heart. He felt enveloped in regret and anger. Why didn't he savor when they were living freely? Why did he mince words when he had the greatest of opportunities to speak them to the fullest?

No more regrets. He took the bound princess in his arms. "I love you." Tears broke out. He had to say it now, before it was too late. "I love you!"  
She was pulled away from him. A visage of the creature had her in its claws. It looked at him from over her shoulder. "You are weak! Pathetic!"

The boy cooled, remaining still. A sword of light, of life, appeared in his hand. His breathing evened. He held himself in perfect calm, and lifted his head at the creature. Then, he spoke, in a low, tense, and furious tone, "I'm going to crush you, grind you to nothing." He leaped into the air, and slashed his sword through the princess.

* * *

 **Life Continues**

Finn landed on his feet, and stayed in a knelt position. He was facing the floor, with his eyes shut. He let tears fall from his face. It had been done. He remained like this, until getting tired of it, he opened his eyes and saw he was atop a floor of hardened roots. Then he looked up, and saw the trunk of a tree.

He was inside the chamber atop the candy palace that housed this tree. It was the place the Lich had been sealed.

But now the Lich was gone.

And so was...

He felt his stomach sink.

* * *

Ice King was standing atop the gatehouse of the Candy Kingdom. He saw ice everywhere, buried all over the city. The palace looked to have been particularly bombarded.

He didn't remember causing any of this, but there was no way to prove he didn't do it. They were gonna come after him with the torches and the Finn and Jake. He turned, and flew away before anybody saw him.

* * *

Jake regained full consciousness. He was standing in the main street of the Candy Kingdom. There were candy people everywhere, crowding the streets. He realized they must have been following the same light as him.

* * *

Doctor Ice Cream saw the full light of dawn in the kingdom. She noticed everyone's attention was centered on the palace, silhouetted in front of the rising sun, as though expecting something. She looked and waited as well, for she felt the same thing.

* * *

The tree began to glow, with the same light that defeated the creature. Before Finn's eyes, the tree grew bigger, healthier. Its limbs reached out with energy, its trunk grew taller with strength. It began to blossom, producing a veritable aurora of colors and beauty.

A concentration of light appeared in the alcove where the Lich had once been encased.

Out of the light came a little princess.

She was Finn's height, with a pink dress. Her hair was bundled short, and comprised of bubblegum.

The light disappeared. She walked right up to Finn, and hugged him. "My hero." She said as she hugged him tight.

Finn returned the hug. "Is it... really you?"

She backed away, a little bit, to be face to face, then she nodded.

* * *

They appeared before everyone, on the balcony of the palace. The princess, and the hero, side by side.

Everyone cheered, and rejoiced.

Above the palace, the tree rose higher, and more beautifully than ever. Behind the palace, the sun rose, casting its light on all the land.

A new dawn, for all.

 **The End**


End file.
